Social Justice Zealots Attack Nintendo

The Japanese video game company Nintendo has seen a phenomenal comeback lately. Its latest video game console, the Nintendo Switch, has sold an overall 32 million units worldwide as of last year. The games for the system have sold great as well, with Super Mario Odyssey being the system’s best-selling game for a time (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has since overtaken it for that position).

And the company also knows its audience. Unlike mostotherentertainment companies, they understand that making political statements – no matter where they may lean – could alienate their potential audience. And the company has followed through that policy of not making political statements in public. The most recent case being that they banned the transgender flag from being used in the new stage builder update of the popular fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. And of course, Vivian Kane of the far-left website The Mary Sue was furious:

[I]t’s incredibly disappointing that Nintendo joins the ranks of so many others who still see transgender rights and even the public existence of trans people as inherently political. Saying transgender people deserve their civil rights is not a political statement. Banning trans symbols is a political statement, though, as it does nothing but normalize bigotry.

The fact that Nintendo understands that there’s a time and a place for LGBTQ rights activism, and a video game is neither time nor place, has to be very infuriating for Vivian. As repeatedly demonstrated, shoving social and political agendas down the faces of people who simply want to be entertained could turn away potential audiences or – in this case – video game players. Just look at what happened to Electronic Arts’ Mass Effectfranchise not too long ago. The Mary Sue owner and ABC News anchor Dan Abrams must be really proud to have someone like her working for his website.

These are the exact people that are just fine with social media companies banning any speech that disagrees with its far-left worldview. The One Angry Gamer blog said it perfectly:

If you notice that anytime Google, Twitter, or Facebook bans, shadow-bans, blocks, or censors content from a Conservative, a Republican, or anyone on the Right, the SJWs are quick to justify it by saying “they’re a private corporation. They can do what they want” or the typical “Only the government can censor!”. Now that the shoe is on the other foot they’re not happy about it at all.

Yikes! The point being, political statements are the last thing Nintendo should be doing in their content, and that especially includes current events. Do we really want a franchise like Pokémon to go the way of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and potentially have characters that blatantly promote fat acceptance and other things that cater to social justice fanatics travel along with Ash Ketchum (or “Satoshi” in Japan) and Pikachu? Don’t count on it.

The fact of the matter is that Nintendo knows exactly what it’s doing. They may support certain causes when it comes to politics and other things, but they’re an entertainment company first. And much of mainstream pop culture could learn from them.